Dead & Company Play Free Show At Madison Square Garden

Saturday night Dead & Company was introduced to many new fans through both attendees who scored free tickets for the band’s final 2015 performance at Madison Square Garden in NYC and the many watching at home via an American Express Unstaged webcast. Grateful Dead members Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and Bob Weir along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti played an uneven first set that was followed by arguably the six-piece’s best set yet including the D&C premiere of “St. Stephen.”

Dead & Company continues to dig into the vast live repertoire of the Grateful Dead as last night’s sixth show of the tour featured four more tour debuts. The group kicked off the show with “Shakedown Street” and rolled into the first-ever D&C “I Need A Miracle.” Bob Weir sang both songs before handing the lead vocal baton to John Mayer for “Cold Rain & Snow.” The two guitarists shared frontman duties on “Teneessee Jed” before Mayer led the tour debut of “They Love Each Other.” Set One came to a close with a particularly slow-paced “Jack Straw.” The band seemed to have trouble getting into a flow during the opening stanza, but a powerful climax to “Jack Straw” foreshadowed what was ahead.

If tempo was an issue in the first set, the second set didn’t suffer from the pace as much. In fact, “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower” was played at a quicker speed than at the Fare Thee Well shows. Each member of the sextet had ample opportunity to shine during a second set that featured a strikingly similar setlist to what went down at the tour opener in Albany about a week and a half prior. The highlight of the night and perhaps the tour was the first-ever Dead & Company “St. Stephen” which followed “He’s Gone.” Mayer unleashed torrent after torrent of impressive riffs and was game for blowing past the jam’s typical structure in a way we haven’t seen thus far this tour. Last night’s “Stephen” showed what this band is capable of at its best.

Bassist Oteil Burbridge continues to get more comfortable with his new bandmates and even returned to the stage during “Drums” to play the kit while Mickey and Billy bashed away at their massive rig. Hart ended “Drums” and started “Space” by strumming “The Beam” both with his bands and at points tongue:

“The Other One” was another highlight of Saturday’s show thanks to Weir’s strong vocal delivery and Mayer stringing together more crushing leads. “Stella Blue” showed off a different side of the band’s musicality as Bobby worked plenty of emotion into his singing, while John did the same with his guitar playing. Oteil’s approach to the song was also inventive and unlike what we’ve seen from other bassists tackling “Stella Blue.” A set-closing “Not Fade Away” gave the crowd one last chance to shake it as the “Brokedown Palace” encore – the band’s first-ever take on the Garcia/Hunter classic – was more for swaying and hugging.

Dead & Company’s inaugural tour moves on to Worcester on Tuesday.

Watch a looping replay of the webcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ZjzbIi4Co

Here’s footage of both sets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chwdbGNQxiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4AloDbwt-8

Setlist

Set One: Shakedown Street > I Need A Miracle > Cold Rain & Snow, Tennessee Jed, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw

Set Two: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower, He’s Gone > St. Stephen > Drums > Space > The Other One > Stella Blue > Not Fade Away

Encore: Brokedown Palace